Motomiya Mao
Motomiya Mao is the main character of Taiyou no Ie. She is a high school student who after some special circumstances, ends up living with her childhood friend Nakamura Hiro . Appearance Mao is considered a beautiful and attractive young girl by many characters throughout the story. Mao has long brown hair and very white skin. Prior to middle school, she had shorter hair resembling her first mother. However, later on in middle school she often wore her hair in pigtails. She is estimated to be around 145-152 cm (4"9 - 5"0). In high school, she lets her hair down in school and wears a variety of hair styles at home and when out. Personality Mao is dense towards her feelings and others. She doesn't realize Oda's, Daiki's, and Hiro's feelings toward her. She deeply cares about her family and friends, which is why her parent's disregard and neglect had been incredibly hurtful to her. She is portrayed as a shy and aloof girl, but to people she is close with, she is more outgoing. She is good at sealing her emotions. Mao is also easy to read and cries a lot more than she did as a child (according to Hiro). Mao can also be insensitive and rude, as she complains frequently. Therefore, she is often misunderstood by others. After Mao started living with Hiro she became more considerate, less rude, and more concerned for her friends. Background Childhood When she was little, her parents were rarely at home "working for her sake" (or she thought) so she was alone most of the time. One day when she was eating alone by the shrine, she was seen by Nakamura Hina, the daughter from a new family in the neighborhood. Where soon after she was invited to eat at the Nakamura's house. One night, at the Nakamura's she declined dinner saying her family was waiting for her at home. When she arrived home, she found herself alone. Suddenly her mom came home and Mao went to greet her but her joy disappeared when she saw a man (who obviously wasn't her father) arriving with her mother. Later, Mao was crying near the shrine when Nakamura Hiro finds her. She tells him her parents are getting divorced so she needs to decide where she will live; to what he responds:'' "If you don't like any of your choices, why don't you stay at my place?" Those words made her happy even though it was not an option. She decided to stay with her father and so she moved a couple of stations away. Even then she continued to go frequently to the Nakamura's until she became part of the family. After the sudden death of Hiro's parents, the younger siblings moved to live with their aunts and uncles. Mao couldn't go to the Nakamura's house as much as she was used to before the accident. But she always tried to support and help Hiro, who being the oldest and wanting to stay there. Hiro began to work to keep the house until the day his family could live again together. Even though her house is quite far from the area that Hiro lives in, Mao continued to visit the area when she wanted to see Hiro. Relationships Family *Hironaka Yuzuno - ::: ''"I know that she's a selfish person. But that person... my mother... is alone right now. And I know exactly what that's like." ::::: -Mao's thoughts about her mom Taiyou no Ie Manga: Chapter 25, Page 16-17 :: Hironaka Yuzuno is Mao's biological mother. Not much is known about Mao's mother. After marrying Mao's father she had an affair with another man. On Christmas, her husband came home early and found her cheating on him. Mao's mother and her father got divorced. Mao was forced to choose to stay with either her mom or dad. Mao chooses to live with her father instead because Mao did not want to live with a man that she didn't know. :: It has been ten years since Yuzuno and Mao have seen each other and Mao's mother comes to visit Mao. She asks Mao if she wanted to live with her, or else she will be alone. Mao feels extremely guilty because she wants to tell her mom no, but she knows what it is like to lonely, and she feels that she is the only one who can help her mom.Taiyou no Ie Manga: Chapter 45 *Motomiya Kaitou - :::"Aren't you the one who decided to leave home? You and your mom just both decided to up and leave all by yourselves." ::::-Mao's father accusing Mao of leaving Taiyou no Ie Manga: Chapter 11 :Motomiya Kaitou is Mao's biological father. When Mao was born, her father was kind and worked hard to support their family, but after finding out his wife was cheating on him the whole time he became a cold and uncaring person. He feels that Mao left him (to live with Hiro) just like her mother did. Despite his constant efforts to drive Mao away, she still wants to build a relationship with him. He seems to be kind to everyone but Mao after his remarriage. After the trip Mao planned, Mao sees hints about her father's love for her. When she comes back home late after working at her part time job, he scolds her, appearing to be concerned about her coming home late. *Stepmother - :::"You're just so much like a mom." ::::-Mao to her Step-Mother : The stepmother is one of the main driving forces in getting Mao to come back home. The second time Mao meets her stepmother was at the grocery store, where her stepmother requests to talk to her asking for her to come home. She originally didn't want Mao to intrude on her life but after a while she realized that Mao had left a gaping hole in their family. Mao has started having more contact with her family now, due to her stepmother. When Mao becomes confused about whether she should leave her new family to go back to her mother, she gives Mao some advice, even sharing some things about her own family situation. *Yui - In the beginning of the novel, the relationship between Mao and her stepsister Yui is unclear. When Mao is invited to her Yui's birthday, Mao feels very distant and awkward when she tries to talk to her Yui for the first time. Yui tells Mao she feels Mao left home because of her. Mao did not realize that she did that, and the misunderstanding is cleared once Mao apologizes. Mao draws pictures and chats with her stepsister, and when Mao leaves, her stepsister gives her a drawing. In the drawing it had a message that said "I love my big sister" and "Come back soon so we can play again". Their relationship has improved and they are able to talk to each other often. They are often seen together doing activities such as making origami, talking, and watching tv. Love Life *Nakamura Hiro - Hiro is a childhood friend and love interest for Mao. Mao used to be very irritable and complained a lot (such as when Hiro called her "Magyo") in order to cover up her feelings of her love for Hiro. Hiro often invited Mao to live with him, since she often said that she felt she had no where to live. Eventually Mao lives with Hiro, and she greatly appreciates him. She realizes her feelings for Hiro when Radical sends Mao feedback about her story House of the Sun (which is based on her life) questioning her feelings of love. Mao often worries whether she is a burden to Hiro. Hiro treated Mao as a younger sister , which made Mao feel like she replaced Hina. Mao tries to hint to Hiro about her feelings. Hiro naturally holds hands with Mao because Mao is seen as a part of his family to Hiro. Hiro eventually realizes his true feelings for Mao when he gets jealous (when Daiki confessed his love for Mao). In Chapter 32, Hiro and Mao both share a kiss. Hiro tells Mao that he will eventually be the one to confess his feelings to Mao. :: Hiro tells Mao how he wishes that his whole family could live together in his house (just like before his parent's death). Mao suggests to Hiro that he should tell them. Hiro says that because of Mao, he was able to get the courage to ask Daiki and Hina to visit them. :: Hiro and Mao were planning to go on a date so Hiro could confess his feelings to Mao. Mao cancels because her mother wanted to talk to her, making Hiro extremely worried. Hiro states that he is worried about Mao in the drinking party, and he feels like Mao doesn't trust him. Taiyou no Ie Manga Chapter 45 *Nakamura Daiki- :::"Daiki means a lot to me. I can be myself around him." ::::-Mao's thoughts about Daiki Taiyou no Ie Manga: Chapter 36 : When Daiki was younger he was comforted by Mao when he was crying in the rain after his parents death. Daiki is shown to have feelings for Mao despite knowing she is in love with Hiro. Daiki has always liked her since they were childhood friends. Daiki had often teased and insulted Mao. When they were young, they often competed against each other in video games. He can be rude and uncaring to Mao but deep inside he loves her. Daiki tries to hint to Mao about his feelings for Mao, but Mao thinks that he likes a girl in Kobe (it was really Mao). Despite knowing he will get rejected, he confesses to Mao and tells her to think about it. Mao feels awful treating Daiki the way she did especially when she had thoughtlessly talked about Hiro to him. After a while, Mao feels awful rejecting Daiki, and she tells him that he's a great option but she really loves Hiro. *Oda - In the beginning chapters, Oda often spent his time with Mao, and offered to walk her home and watch movies with him. When Mao asks why Oda spent so much time with her, Oda confessed his love to Mao, but Mao rejected him. Oda and Mao still remain friends, and Oda later began to like and date Chi. Friendships In elementary school, Mao was bullied and treated as an outsider. Still, she was able to meet some friends. *Chihiro - :::"That was the reason why I really didn't have any friends. But you still came and talked to me. That made me happy. It was kind of lonely at home, but I could be with Chi during school so I was really happy."'' ::::-Mao's thoughts about Chihiro Taiyou no Ie Manga: Chapter 11, Page 18 :Mao and Chi were friends during middle school. Their friendship started every since Chi sat in front of Mao. Mao used to be very distant to others, but Chihiro (who Mao calls "Chi") still talked to her, which made Mao feel welcome. She often talked to Mao secretly during class which Mao found that it was very fun. Chi was very kind to Mao and defended her when other people gossiped. Mao starts avoiding Chi because of Oda's confession to Mao, in order to not hurt Chi's feelings (Chi likes Oda). Chi confronts Mao and Oda and tells her that she was upset because Mao talked to Oda instead of her. They maintain a very close relationship together and they know about each other's love lives and family situation. They often eat together at lunch and they have gone to each other's houses. *Nakamura Hina - Mao and Hina used to be good friends before Nakamura's parents death. Mao feels guilty about taking *Radical (Sugimoto) :::"Our feelings and interests are so alike. But why is it that I can't bring myself to share an honest smile with her? If only we hadn't liked the same person - maybe just maybe, things would have been different." ::::-Mao's thoughts about Sugimoto Taiyou no Ie Manga:Chapter 22 Radical and Mao met because they were both cellphone novelists. In Chapter 5 Radical, Mao's first impression of Radical was that she was pretty. Radical was a very big fan of Mao's cellphone novel House of the Sun. She finds that Radical is very easy to talk to. Mao discovers that Radical has a crush on Hiro when she sees pictures of him in Radical's house. Mao eventually tells Radical that Mao likes the person Radical likes (Hiro), and she lives with him. Radical seems very disturbed by this and cries. Mao feels guilty about her feelings for Hiro because of Radical. They become friends, but they soon become distant because they declare to each other that they both like Hiro. Eventually, their friendship is rekindled when Radical reveals to Mao that she had told Hiro the truth about Mao's cellphone novel. Nakamura's Parents These are the parents of Hiro, Daiki and Hina. Nakamura's parents were very kind and welcoming to Mao. Mao was shocked when they had both died in the car crash. '' *Mrs. Nakamura - The mother of the Nakamura family treated Mao extremely kindly and often invited her to their house. Mao was treated as part of Nakamura's family. She was able to actually break Mao's cold exterior and comfort her when she cried. She acted very much like a mother to Mao. *Nakamura's Father Aliases *Mao *Magyo (Hiro and Daiki) *Motomiya (Oda) *Mao-chan (Stepmother) *Ms. Kuukai/Kuukai (Radical/Sugimoto) *Ninja-chan (Fujita calls her that when Mao is working at the bar) *Sorami (Hiro mistaking the Kanji for 'Kuukai') Quotes Trivia *Mao is terrible at cooking. She attempted to cook hamburger steak, cream puffs, and tomato soup. *Mao does not like eating sweet food. *Mao's pen name for her cell phone novel "House of the Sun" is "Kuukai". *Mao is a fan of Mito Komon's Yashichi. *She is skilled in making cloth slippers. *At the festival in Sendai, it was shown that she is skilled in the goldfish scooping game. *She is pretty good at video games. References Navigation Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Cellphone Novel Author Category:High-schoolers